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Sometimes nothing that is quick or easy sounds good enough for dinner. Sometimes, you just have a craving for cheesy, baked goodness. Well, these chicken enchiladas ticked both of those boxes – time consuming in preparation (though not hard, just repetitive) and deliciously cheesy. Make no mistake, this is not a health food but sometimes a splurge is necessary.

We are lucky enough in Seattle to have easy access to 100% corn tortillas at a decent price but I know in Australia it is hard to come by tortillas that don’t have wheat in them. If that is the case, and you can find instant masa corn flour, then you can make your own corn tortillas quite easily – masa flour and water are the only two ingredients, mixed to form a dough, flattened into a tortilla shape and dry-fried until cooked. This video gives a clear explanation of the process, if you decide that this is what you are doing. We have a tortilla press, which makes it a quicker process than her plate/rolling pin method but if you don’t have a press then that is how you do it.

FODMAP Notes

This recipe is quite tomato based, so if you are sensitive to tomatoes then it might not be suitable for you. To reduce the tomato content, remove it from the enchilada filling as a first resort (replace it with 2 cups of FF chicken stock), because the enchilada sauce is necessary for cooking.

Be careful with chili powder, it can sometimes contain onion and garlic powders. Just check the ingredients. If you are sensitive to spices, feel free to reduce the amounts listed.

Cooking onion/garlic in the dish and then removing it later on reduces the fructans present but they are still there, so it may cause a reaction in some. They are optional, you can leave them out completely.

You can put as much or as little cheese on these as you like. We used a fair bit of cheese on these because the friends we had over to dinner once referred – jokingly, of course – to our mac and cheese as “Mac and Cheese sans cheese.” We have come to realise that our taste buds are very different to those used to Southern cooking!

Make this vegetarian by swapping out the roasted chicken for diced firm tofu, which is low FODMAP in 1 cup servings.

Add in the pureed tomatoes, optional paste, chicken stock, oregano, and salt and stir until combined. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a low heat and simmer for approx. 20-30 minutes, until it has thickened.

Chicken Filling

The meat from 1 roasted chook – or equivalent – shredded

1 onion – optional: quartered to infuse olive oil with flavours, or diced and left in if tolerated

2 cloves garlic – optional: quartered to infuse olive oil with flavours, or diced and left in if tolerated

2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

2 tsp. ground paprika

4 chipotle chilies, minced

1 x 425 g/15 oz can of sweet corn – if tolerated

3 x 425 g/15 oz can of diced tomatoes

Seal your pan and fry the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes to infuse their flavours into the olive oil; after this, you can either remove them or leave them in – in which case, they should have been diced – if you can tolerate them.

Next, on a medium heat add in the ground cayenne and paprika and let them sizzle for a minute. Follow with the cooked shredded chicken and sizzle for another minute before adding the chipotle chilies, corn and diced tomatoes.

Let the mixture simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes to really allow the flavours to combine.

Assembly

30 corn tortillas, 15 cm diameter

Enchilada sauce – above

Chicken filling – above

1 1/2 cups grated cheese of your choice

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F.

Just before the 30 minutes is up, prepare your tortillas. To soften them – so that they roll without splitting – you can either microwave them in a sealed container with a dampened paper towel for 2 minutes or steam them on the stove til soft.

Choose your baking dish – we needed two – and spread a thin layer of the enchilada sauce over the base. Next, place a 5 mm thick layer on a dinner plate; this is to dip both sides of each tortilla in before filling and wrapping.

Place approx. 2 dessert spoons full of the chicken filling in a log across the centre of the tortilla – this amount will change depending on the size of the tortillas (ours were about 15 cm across). Next, roll the tortilla up and place it seam-side down on the prepared baking dish. Repeat this until you run out of tortillas, the chicken filling or space on the dish.

Pour over the remaining enchilada sauce – if you feel like you have so much left it will drown the enchiladas, don’t use it all. Whenever we make these, a surprising amount is taken up as we dip the tortillas before rolling but that might not be the case for you.

Sprinkle with the grated cheese and bake at 180 C/350 F for 15 -20 minutes to melt and brown the cheese.

How inviting does that look?! I can only manage three of them, as cheese fills me up very quickly but I savour them as much as I can… I know I won’t be making them more than once or twice every autumn/winter.

Top with sour cream, and garnish with some green chives or Italian parsley. Serve with a salad, just to make yourself feel a little better. Skip dessert.